This improved automatic weapon system results from redesign and reduced component structure of weapons based upon the basic Gatling type design as described in the U.S. Pat. No. 502,185 to R. J. Gatling, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,849,921 to H. M. Otto, and reduced electrical power requirements as an improvement to drive motor requirement systems as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,143,922 to S. Altschuler, et al.
In the traditional Gatling type design, each ammunition round (i.e., cartridge) must be fed into a receiver in one direction, then its direction of movement must be changed by ninety degrees to insert the ammunition round into a conventional breech for firing. Then, after the round is fired, the direction of movement of the spent cartridge casing must again be changed one hundred and eighty degrees to be extracted from the breech. After these changes in movement, each cartridge casing's direction of movement must be changed again by ninety degrees to extract the casing from the weapon. All of these changes in the direction of movement of the ammunition round require great amounts of energy and are prone to malfunction.
Accordingly, a weapon system that does not require the traditional changes in directional movement of ammunition, that eliminates the complex sub-assemblies necessary to change the directional movement of ammunition, and that continues to operate when an ammunition defect fails to produce producer gases, that reduces maintenance of the system, is radically different from existing technology.